• New housing towers open at Camp Humphreys, celebrating legacy and sustainability

    With the snip of nine pairs of scissors, the U.S. Army opened three new housing towers on U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, South Korea, Sep. 13, 2024. Representatives from the installation, families moving into the buildings, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Far East District and Eighth Army joined to open the doors of the towers and dedicate them to three Medal of Honor recipients.
  • Establishing a Selection of Dust Event Case Studies for Regions in the Global South

    Abstract: Airborne dust is an essential component of climatological and biogeochemical processes. Blowing dust can adversely affect agriculture, transportation, air quality, sensor performance, and human health. Therefore, the accurate characterization and forecasting of dust events is a priority for air quality researchers and operational weather centers. While dust detection and prediction capabilities have evolved over the preceding decades, the weather modeling community must continue to improve the location and timing of individual dust event fore-casts, especially for extreme dust outbreaks. Accordingly, Researchers at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) are establishing a series of reference case study events to enhance dust transport model development and evaluation. These case studies support ongoing research to increase the accuracy of simulated dust emissions, dust aerosol transport, and dust-induced hazardous air quality conditions. This report documents five new contributions to the reference inventory, including detailed assessments of dust storms from three regions with differing meteorological forcing regimes. Here, we examine two extreme dust episodes that affected India, a multiday berg wind event in southern Africa, a strong but short-lived dust plume from the Atacama Desert of Chile, and a narrow, isolated dust plume emanating from a dry lake bed in Patagonia.
  • Pollinator Garden Playbook: Supporting the Western North American Population of Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the Endangered Smith’s Blue Butterfly (Euphilotes enoptes smithi) on Military Lands

    Abstract: The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center–Environmental Lab (ERDC-EL) researchers assisted the US Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey in 2021 to assess the feasibility of pollinator gardens at select locations in Monterey, California. The proposed pollinator gardens were to be designed to support the western population of the North American monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), the federally endangered Smith’s blue butterfly (Euphilotes enoptes smithi), and other pollinators found in the Monterey area. This technical report documents planning and design considerations for these pollinator gardens situated on the grounds of the Presidio of Monterey (POM) and the Ord Military Community (OMC). Site preparations, recommended plant species, garden designs, installation methods, and invasive species management are discussed. The contents herein can be used as a general playbook for similar pollinator habitat improvement projects on military lands.
  • SEG-2 Viewer MATLAB App User Guide

    Purpose: This technical note documents the functionalities of the SEG-2 Viewer and provides a step-by-step user guide for the application. SEG-2 Viewer is a MATLAB app that was developed at the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) of the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) for visualizing and analyzing geophysical data in SEG-2 format.
  • Coherent Marine X-Band Radar Deployment during DUNEX

    Abstract: A marine X-band radar system, developed by Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Hereon) was deployed within view of the nearshore at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Field Research Facility (FRF), in Duck, North Carolina, from October 2021 to August 2022. The radar deployment was a collaboration among researchers at the FRF, Hereon, and the University of Miami and was initiated as part of the During Nearshore Event Experiment (DUNEX), a large multi-institutional field experiment funded by the US Coastal Research Program. The Hereon radar successfully collected data during the main DUNEX field campaign (approximately October 2021) and continued to collect nearly continuously until August 2022. To facilitate use of Hereon radar data, this document describes the deployment, provides background and context, and presents metadata. Within, we describe in detail the Hereon radar system, the locations of two different installations, the time periods covered, sampling modes, environmental conditions and notable events, example data products, and potential pathways for future use of the data.
  • USACE initiates reevaluation of design for portion of Section 202 Johnson County Flood Risk Management Project

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to work in close coordination with the Johnson County Fiscal Court on the Section 202 Johnson County Flood Risk Management Project, which is intended to reduce flood risk for Johnson County, Kentucky.
  • Acting ASD Rebecca Zimmerman Tours Lahaina Recovery

    Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, Rebecca Zimmerman, visited Maui August 29, 2024 where she visited key project sites and met with key leaders to develop a greater understanding of the Maui Wildfires Recovery Mission.
  • Spellmon Departs Army, Leaves Lasting Legacy

    After 38 years of service, the active-duty Army career of Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon comes to a close tomorrow as he retires from military service in a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Conmy Hall.  
  • USACE Chief of Engineers signs Western Everglades Restoration Plan Report

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla (Sept. 11, 2024) – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commanding General and 55th Chief of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon signed the Chief’s Report Sept. 11, 2024, for the Jacksonville District’s Western Everglades Restoration Plan (WERP) in a ceremony at USACE Headquarters in Washington, D.C. today.
  • USACE Chief of Engineers signs Western Everglades Restoration Plan Report

    Lt. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon, 55th Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, signed the Chief’s Report September 11, 2024, for the Western Everglades Restoration Plan (WERP) in a ceremony at USACE Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (USACE photo by Corey Lanier)